Updates Updates - North Carolina?

So I've moved... to North Carolina. Not exactly something that was on the radar when I first lost my job. I moved in with my mom, step-dad and 11yr half sister. Something I never thought I'd do. But here I am, 10 days post move.When I was applying to entry level, any type of job really, I had a moment of if you're going to be doing something non horse related, you can do this work anywhere and where would you rather be located moment - goodbye Louisiana. Here's some pics of the last things I did there. I'll miss it, and will visit again one day but happy to be farther north again.

Went to Houston for a night to of course visit the racetrack.

Alligator Searching = success

Snake Hunting = Unexpected

Holly Beach - Gulf of Mexico

I think this building has survived a hurricane or two.

Avery Island and Tabasco sauce tours. Mini Tabasco sauce bottles = love.

Cypremort Point State Park - bay off the gulf

I really wasn't thrilled with the thought of going back to Michigan so I narrowed it down to KY and NC. I was applying for jobs in both states, KY more than NC, but I kept getting more bites in NC. So I came here and am now living in a house with 7 cats and a dog. Thankfully? that 7 includes my 2 who have taken over the ruling of the cat world. Also most of my moms cats are outside except to sleep at night. Could be worse I suppose. 

Holly making sure she wasn't forgotten in packing.

I've had one interview, but they're not in a rush to hire anyone so I still haven't heard back. I've been applying to anything and everything so hopefully it wont take too much longer.

The biggest perk of moving here is my moms house is on a large enough lot I'm going to be keeping Dakota here. He'll have about an acre fenced in, leaving some yard still for the humans and other creatures to use. He arrives March 15, so much to do still but I'll be ready for him. His paddock is split in two so I can have a sacrifice area and easily keep him off high amounts of grass to keep him from exploding and being constantly on the verge of founder. 

The next task will be building him a run-in shed. I'd love for this to be done before he gets here but time and unemployment funds only go so far. Goal is to build something large enough half can be for him and the other half can be used for me to keep his grain / tack / hay / supplies. The run in part will have a gate / door of some sort so if he needs to be locked up he can be. Also the neighbor has 4 mini donkeys and a horse all in sight so he won't be completely alone. They have more land and some trails so heres to hoping they'll let Dakota and I explore some. If he gets too lonely, maybe I'll have to find a mini to lease for company.

Celebrate, Regroup and Proceed

I guess now is just as good of a time as any for updates.

Echo is no longer being leased by the girl that was riding her. I had made the difficult decision to sell her. Lauren went to go check in on her, ride her and see how she was doing to proceed with selling her for me. However, what she found was an underweight mare with some new bad under saddle habits. Nothing terrible under saddle, all correctable, but the weight bothered Lauren and wasn't comfortable riding her in that condition. We decided it would take 6-8 weeks to get her to a comfortable weight to have her riding again and another 6-8 weeks to likely correct a few things under saddle. With that, I found an alternative route to take with her. I still own her, but she is now living with friends who are going to breed her this year for a foal to race. She knows them and if anyone else is going to have my horse for nearly two years, there's no one I'd rather have her with. No one.

As for Dakota and I... we will probably be moving. Again. Last Wednesday I lost my job. Something I'm completely ok with. About three weeks ago I had a reality check about the job and some health issues possibly going on so two weeks ago I had already started searching for new jobs here in Louisiana. If I decide to move of substantial distance, the job I had here will at least pay for Dakota and I to move. I'm relieved I had the Echo situation figured out before this hit, one less thing to organize. My lease is up on my apartment the end of March so if I can't find anything job wise here or elsewhere I guess I'll be moving back to Kentucky or Michigan (ugh). Kentucky is far more likely because well... I can actually find a job there.

Gone Too Long

I know, I know I've been gone too long. I wish I could say I've been able to keep on blog reading in my absence but sadly I've been gone from that too. There is a lot to catch my blog world up on. Things like the new job, living in a totally different world and culture, the horses here, cats, etc. but that will take a lot of catching up. 

Two things however... Echo is doing well and being good overall in Kentucky. Secondly, Dakota is coming to Louisiana!!! He will be here Monday. He gets to ride and arrive on a giant semi trailer. Not sure how he's going to take that but he's always been a hauling champion. He's coming down with five horses the owners have in Kentucky so one big load of horses coming.

I finally feel ready for him to be here and have a horse again. Well, I've needed him for sanity for awhile, but I finally feel like I have sort of a routine to where I can actually go see him after work and still get home and not be exhausted the next day. 

The farm he'll be at is right on my route home so it's very convenient. 170 acres total, lots of land to just ride on. Has 3 round pens and a large lighted arena. No barn hours will make it nice when I start working nights soon for night watch on the mares. He'll be on full care board so I won't have the stress of having to stay after work for something and still getting to him every night. Looks like the barn is mostly Western riders but a few English and lots of hopeful trail riding buddies. 

Super scared to see how matted his mane and tail are, how fat he is, and how bad his hooves are. Hopefully I will have him sound and ridable pretty quickly... It might take a few trims though to get his hooves good and fingers crossed living outside in Kentucky on fall grass didn't do too much damage. Like I said, I'm scared. I'll do my best to post some updates on Dakota as he arrives and I start riding again, as well as catching up on some serious blog reading.

Poolside at my apartment.

Plans = Overrated

So much has changed and happened since I wrote my last blog post. 

Last Friday night I had my going away dinner at our favorite restaurant, Jalapenos with my favorite group of people. Lots of goodbyes but it was a fun night that ended with yours truly getting ketchup in their milkshake after drunkenly asking for a steak and shake at Steak n Shake. Gross. 

Sunday Dakota moved down to the owner's house where he'll stay outside 24/7 with a run-in until he ships down to Louisiana. 

Final hack with Dakota until he's in Louisiana.

My car is still not cleaned, my room where I'm living is only 75% packed and I'm running out of time, but oh well, I deserve it for being such a procrastinator. 

Lauren got a great opportunity to switch boarding to the farm she trains with. Echo isn't going. Which threw all the plans out the window we had previously hashed out. Luckily, April, who has been riding where the horses are boarded for about a month, was looking for a horse to potentially lease. Sunday Lauren and I met up with her at the barn to see how her and Echo would interact with each other. To my relief, they seem to have gotten along great. April has a lot of hunter / jumper experience and Echo did all of her quirks while jumping so she shouldn't pull any new tricks out after Lauren and I have both left the farm.  

Echo jumping a week and half ago with Lauren.

Way to jump the standards mare...

My last day of work is tomorrow and the it's show time. Getting the u-Haul loaded tomorrow and may or may not drive a few hours tomorrow night.

Two Weeks and Counting

I don't know if I should cry, laugh, be sad, be happy, be scared or anything. Today, I gave my two week notice at Equibase. I've accepted the job in Louisiana. I don't want to leave Kentucky, I don't want to leave my friends aka my real family. However, I never want to sit and wonder what if and regret an opportunity that passes by. 

My last day is September 10th and I'll be packing up and driving down on the 11th. First day working will be the 15th. Not 100% where I'll be living but I'll be staying at one of the owners house for the first few days until I seal the deal with an apartment - only so much I can do from here. 

Dakota is being shipped down but they are hauling him for me so I'm not 100% when he will be arriving but finding something official for him to live is second on the list. There's too many options right now and again, it's hard for me to make a final call from Kentucky. 

Solo riding with Dakota.

Echo... is staying in Kentucky. I will still own her obviously but I feel like she deserves a chance to continue training and compete with Lauren. One of the biggest factors was if Echo would handle me not around since everyone agrees that's partly why Texas with her was such a failure. However, Echo really loves Lauren and they get along great. The times I've been out of town, Lauren has continued to work with her and there doesn't seem to be any change in Echo's behavior these days if I'm not around while she's worked. Yippee for a mentally maturing Echo. Also instead of going to Aiken or Ocala for a few weeks over winter break, Lauren is considering coming to me instead since there are a few farms in the area that have places to cross country school etc.

Two more new photos from the jumper show back in July. 

She's not competing this weekend as originally planned. Her hooves have been chipping with all the rain. The hind hoof she injured while she's sound on it and the structure of the hoof is fine, everyone agrees if she hit it just right it'd probably not be a good situation. One of those deals I had to step back and realize it's only been 6 months since she injured the hoof. 

Hoof peeling and chipping... Yay....

Hopefully I get opportunities to visit Kentucky with work and if not, I get vacation time to use for things like Rolex, racing stuff and Echo showing. 

Ice bucket challenge at work. Such a production.